1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bio-affecting and body treating compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to a therapeutic composition or balm consisting of specific essential oils.
2. Description of the Related Art
For thousands of years, many cultures of humanity have looked across their world and sought remedies to relieve pain. From the four corners of this planet they have developed therapeutic medicines from the very plants, trees, flowers and even the roots themselves. In the days of ancient Egypt, Papyrus manuscripts dating back 2800 BC recorded the use of hundreds of medicinal herbs, fine oils and perfumes. The Egyptians held many of these essential oils in high regard due to their therapeutic properties. When the Greeks visited Egypt, they learned a great deal regarding the medicinal applications of aromatic plants. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, prescribed fumigations and fomentations. Megallus himself created a famous preparation, made from myrrh, cinnamon and cassis. This was used both as a perfume and as a remedy for skin inflammation and battle wounds.
Plants and herbs have long been used for medicinal purposes. Indeed, Native Americans have long known of the healing powers of certain herbs as remedies for various illnesses. Well known examples of using plants and herbs for medicinal purposes include aspirin, which comes from the bark of a white willow tree, and digitalis, which comes from a flower commonly known as Foxglove.
The Arabs produced many great men of science, among them Avicenna (980-1037 AD). Of his many fine works and discoveries, he invented the refrigerated coil, a breakthrough in the art of distillation, which he used to produce essential oils. During these times, there was an outlook possessed by these inventors, a common interest in the interrelatedness of matter and spirit. They used their intuition with the known sciences of their day.
As the Renaissance period came and went, so did the role of essential oils for direct therapeutic intervention. With the arrival of technical chemistry, synthetic counterparts of essential oils created the modern drug industry. They reduced the role of essential oils to employment in perfumes, cosmetics and foods.
In these modern times, pain management is of great concern for those who are prescribed various drugs. Side effects and toxicity are very real experiences mounting negative evidence of these synthetic versions. Accordingly, there is a need for a natural oil composition which can be used for physical therapy in treating human body pains, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease of high prevalence rate in the United States and several other countries. Rheumatoid arthritis is a leading cause of disability, and it adversely affects the quality of life. The drugs that are currently prescribed to treat rheumatoid arthritis are expensive and often cause adverse health effects. Therefore, safer and less expensive alternative therapeutic products are increasingly being sought.
In this regard, a variety of compounds that might be of potential use as drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory conditions are continually being evaluated. Animal testing is often a key part of these evaluations. For example, the injection of adjuvant (Mycobacterium butyricum suspended in mineral oil) into rats produces an immune reaction that characteristically involves inflammatory destruction of cartilage and bone of the distal joints with concomitant swelling of surrounding tissues. Rats with such induced arthritis (i.e., adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA)) are then used to evaluate various test compounds for their ability to inhibit the adjuvant-induced arthritis' inflammatory response.
Several compound evaluation studies have shown that some rheumatoid arthritis-like symptoms can be significantly ameliorated in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis. For example, studies suggesting the efficacy of topical application of various compounds include: the anti-inflammatory activity of Boswellic acids and ginkgetin and biflavonoid mixtures, and relief from the symptoms of arthritis suggested by the use of essential oils from ginger, orange and black cumin.
Despite these promising results and the existence in the marketplace of many medicinal pain relievers, there continues to be a need for the discovery and development of new and improved pain relief methods and products.